Small wood pieces flew everywhere, over the heads of the three boys camping out inside of the house. The wood, as small as it was, was more than enough to cause splinters. Thomas, a tall skinny boy, clutched his arm in pain as blood dripped down while standing up and tripping over away from from the door which was being infiltrated. Following the boys lead, the other two boys slowly crept over to the back where there friend awaited them. The door, which had seen better days, broke open more and more with each strike it took from the monstrosity outside. All three as if reading each others minds, began their escape. Rob, a muscular kid with brown hair and dark green eyes, lead the boys with a barrage of kicks to the back door of the house. Though boarding up all the doors and windows from the outside seemed like a good plan at the moment, it turned not to be because the only door where they had planned to escape from in emergencies, like this, was blocked by the monster trying to kill them.

Out of the three, only Nick, the oldest of them, was the only one who had seen one of the monsters before. Nick was a short, but strong, fifteen year old kid. He was the leader of the boys and by far the bravest. Whenever he needed something he got it. Sometimes, not in the most peaceful of ways. But other than that, he was a really nice kid who was respectful and a loyal friend. As Rob tried to kick down the door desperately, Nick and Thomas kept guard with all there attentions focused on the door which was near breaking point. This only made Rob more frantic. He was looking back and forth from the back door to the front door. Realizing how bad the situation was becoming, Nick turned around and started kicking at the door along with Rob. At that exact moment the front door burst open revealing the monster on the other side. Fear in his eyes, Thomas screamed to the other two, “Hurry up, it's coming!”

Realizing this was there last chance to escape, Rob ran straight for the door with his whole body. He slammed into it, hitting the nails and loose wood which pierces his body. He jumped away as if the pain was a force field. Is this the same thing that killed the others? he thought. Then they heard the monster. All three looked behind them seeing what they had been running from. What they saw was horrible as if it had been chewed up and spit out. It looked like a mauled mess of a human being. Or at least what was a human being. It had bright yellow eyes which appeared to be glowing even though you could automatically see that they had been rotting for what seemed as years. The monster's jaw hung about four or five inches bellow it's bloody lips which had dried blood that was dark red. The left side of the cheek had been split and was separated from the rest of the mouth leaving the rest of the mouth open for display. Inside, it was green and moldy from an eternity of being open. It's whole face could only be described as one thing. Dead. It seemed as though what was left of the skin wasn't even attached the flesh on the inside. As it walked toward them, they could hear a low moan coming from it.

“It looks like a zombie”, said Rob, with all signs of being serious on his face. The other two kids looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

All three stayed in the same place frozen with fright. Fear had taken over them. Even Nick, the headstrong leader, was glued to the same place, blood drained from his face, like the zombie getting nearer. Then Thomas reacted. As if finding a new found bravery or super power, he charged at the door again. He knew there would be pain, but it was better than dying there. He let up out a scream of pain as he collided with door. The door burst open breaking the top hinge. As soon as it flew open, Thomas fell straight to the ground, blood dripping from a wound in his stomach. Nick ran straight for Thomas who was laying on the ground trembling. While, he applied pressure to Thomas's wound, Rob kicked the zombies bloody knee and pushed it backwards away from his comrades, swiftly avoiding a bite from the zombie who had let out a deep gurgle as it was pushed backwards.

“You're going to be all right”, Nick said to Thomas as he ripped the front of his shirt and wrapped it around Thomas's wound holding both his hands on it pushing hard trying to stop the bleeding, “That was freaking stupid you know”.

Thomas smirked a bit as Nick helped him up off the ground. Suddenly Rob crashed into both of them knocking them aside. Rob had dodged another bite from the zombie which was approaching fast.

“Let's ditch this place!” shouted Rob.

“Right behind you”, responded Thomas who's voice was a little shaken.

The three of them jumped over the fence of the house that they had been inside. The house had belonged to Thomas's brother. The boys had migrated to his house after all Thomas's parents were killed. The same had happened to Nick's parents. Rob's parents had been out visiting his sister who lived in Florida and was staying with Thomas. They were never heard from. The night of the zombie massacre in the neighborhood, was the night that the three had stayed over at Rob's house which they had to themselves. Even though Nick was fifteen while the others were only thirteen, they were the best of friends considering how much they all had in common. During the night, while they were sleeping, they zombies had entered the neighborhood. It had been on the news the night before of an outbreak but everyone thought it was just some prank that someone had pulled. The boys only survived because they were all sleeping inside the basement. When they left the basement and returned back to the surface, they found what had happened and decided to stay together because of the grief they would go through and they would help each other.

The boys ran through a neighborhood that had seen better days. Houses had been burnt to the ground and there was large amounts of rubble lying everywhere. Street signs and stop lights lay all over and a few inside of houses. Zombies that seemed that they were sleeping lay in dark corners unmoving and rotting, flies swarming around exposed flesh. It had been the first time Rob and Thomas had seen such ruin and wreckage. They had been sheltered inside a house at one point or another and when changing locations, they had been inside of a van and had always been in the back where there were no windows. Nearly every house that they saw had boarded up windows and doors. There was no way in or out of them and the residents could have been killed by the zombies or worse, starved to death.

This post-apocalyptic setting that the boys witnessed was nothing ever seen before, nothing that could have been portrayed in movies, books, or videogames. It was something that no one should have had to go through at such a young age.

As they charged through the neighborhood at top speeds, they dared not to glance behind them. They continued there run until they were all tired and needed a drink. They stopped behind a huge bulldozer near a construction sight outside of the section of houses they had been in. Luckily what had been following them had either been to slow to follow or had been distracted by some other human flesh it could feast on. Relieved they talked about what they needed to do. About a week or two, they talked about what they would do in an emergency like this. This of course was when they were at Thomas's brother house and he was alive. So they had to tweak a few plans.

“What are we going to do?” Nick said, fear in his voice.

“Well we can't keep running away. It isn't smart.” Rob responded.

“We don't really have any other options do we?” Nick argued.

“Why can't we just camp out in some old house or barn something like that?” Rob said anger building in his voice.

“Both of you be quiet! I'm trying to think”, Thomas began, both boys looking at him, “I remember now. Didn't my brother say something about that animal shelter that the city was the place to go for any safety?”

“I totally forgot about that!” exclaimed Nick a smile growing on his face.

“No”, said Rob, “I'm NOT going. For these zombies, it's just a gathering of food in a single place. You can go but I'm staying.”

Nick and Thomas looked at him like he was a crazy person. But he was right in a way because what if there was a bigger outbreak. There would be no where to run. Before this whole mess happened the city's population was over five million. It was pretty crazy now that they thought of it but it was there only option. They had to go there.

“Then we'll leave you behind.” Nick said hoping that he would just follow him.

“No.”

“We need you though!”

“No”

At that point, Rob picked his backpack up and began walking the other direction, back into the neighborhood.

“You better come back here. Now.” Nick said furious.

“Good luck with that.” laughed Rob.

“We have been friends for years. You can't just leave like this”, Nick exclaimed, “All three of us.”

Thomas just held his head down. He hated this fighting. It had been happening more lately and now it was going to reach it's climax. It had began when they were cooped up inside the basement for a week. It was like cabin fever.

“You are stupid if you think going to the city will solve this mess. Because it won't.” Rob said.

“It's not. You need to come back right now. I'm older and I know more than you. You should follow. It's your best chance for survival.” Said Nick.

“If you were really smart. You would know there wouldn't be any survival here! We are among the last alive in this state! Think about the rest of the county. What's the total death count! Tell be that! We are all doomed.” Said Rob, walking away.

“No! Come back!” Said Nick beginning to run after him.

“Let him go.” Said Thomas. It was the first thing he had said in the argument between the two. “Let him choose what path he wants to go and let's leave him be. We will go to the city. Just forget about him.”

Shocked to see such a change in Thomas who used to be one of the happiest people Nick knew. Nick watched dismayed as he walked away. He followed behind him without a word.

The new group of two traveled for three days, nearly using up all there food, water, and supplies, before they reached the city itself. They saw a few zombies When they did they noticed that there were huge gates up, across the whole perimeter of the city itself. They ran over to them finding that there was do entrance. They fence had three layers of barbed wire going for the bottom to the middle and finally at the very top of it. They couldn't see any people inside.

“Hello.” a voice said.

Turning behind them the boys realized that there was a small child standing there. He had brown eyes and looked about six or seven considering he was very small compared to the two boys. The child was holding a black handgun and he was holding it right at Thomas's head who to the child seemed more dangerous because of his expressionless face. How did a child get a gun and we only have a shovel and hammer? Thought Thomas. Follow me. The child spoke like an adult and seemed very mature. He kept it pointed at Thomas's head, while walking about fifty or sixty yards over to a small gate that the group had not seen before. The kid opened the gate and signaled for the two to come in. They followed cautiously, kneeling under the gate until they were inside. Once they both made it in they followed the boy through winding streets and alleys. All of them were empty and dark. It had rained two days before hand in the city because they could smell wet trash. For about thirty minutes they followed the boy. Nick and Thomas both shared many looks with each other. They knew they what they were both thinks. Should they trust this kid? Finally they reached there destination. They walked into this huge alley with seven adults who all eyed them down. Out of a dark corner, emerged an older man. He seemed very intelligent and trustworthy.

“Ron, who are these people?” he asked.

“Well, I was doing my daily rounds around the west side and I saw these guys walking around.” Ron said.

“Bring them out back.” The man said.

He led the boys out to the back of a really tall building. While they walked they saw yet another fence in the middle of the street except this one contained zombies. More than either one of the boys could have ever imagined. They were all shapes and sizes. They all were at the fence trying to break through it, biting and scratching the metal which contained them. If it weren’t for the fence they would all probably be dead. The man walked in front of the boys with his head pointed away from the fence as if he didn’t even know they were there. The boys on the other hand stared right at it, mouths dropped. Thomas’s face turned a bit green for some of the zombies were missing limbs. Nick followed behind trying to stay calm for he still wanted to set an example for Thomas who could really care less at that point. They walked in silence pretending not to notice the moans and other noises from the monstrosities behind that fence.

“Here we are”, Said the man as he halted in front of a pawn shop.

They walked in to the small shack. When the door swung open, a small bell rang telling the invisible shopkeeper that there were new customers. The man walked to the back room of the shop.

Thomas and Nick both browsed the shop like they were going to go and buy something. Thomas walked over to the one side of the shop and picked up an old dusty Playstation 1. He brought it over to Nick.

“Remember these?” Asked Thomas with a smile.

“Those were great! Remember when the three of us would-“ began Nick who stopped right after he realized Rob was gone.

“Here we are” said the man as he walked back into the room. He was holding four weapons. Two guns and two crowbars, “I believe this should do. Do you boys know how to use these things?”

Amazed that the man would trust them with actual weapons, “We really shouldn’t, uh, sir” Nick said shaking his hands in front of him like a comic book character would do.

“No, no, it’s the least we can do for you. And call be Hank” Hank said.